Yesterday was a perfect day! 

It was sunny, breezy and at times, cool.  After 'chores' were done here at the river, Linda and I decided we deserved a bit of R&R.  I put the top down on ol' 'Bre and away we went!

Linda seems to love it.  She just sits in the passenger seat, looking around.  Guess we do look a little silly...

Afterwards, we sat on the glider for hours.  She snoozed while I read.  Reading on an e-reader after dark reminds me so much of those days when I sat at the window and read by the streetlight.  When I finally woke the lazy gal hours later, we walked down to the boat launch. 

One of the reasons Linda loves to come to the river is that she can sleep with me.  She loves it.  Me, not so much.  She's a bed hog!

So much of a bed hog that this morning after she pushed me out of bed, I decided to let her sleep while I went for a walk.  I don't know if she'll ever forgive me, she likes taking me for a walk.

I no sooner started my walk when I saw this:

A Jeep and a VW?  Like a pile of trash designed just for our family.  I sent a photo to

Andy telling him I found him a Jeep. No response yet.   Maybe Pink's not his color?

Of course, everyone knows what the Schenley sign looks like:

 But have I ever shown you Schenley Park?

Oh, and in case you were wondering...the post office is open until noon every day.

I'm liking this town more and more...

It's a sunny summer Sunday...

where are we?  At the river, of course!

It started out to be an ordinary Sunday.  Mark and I were greeters for the early church service which gave us time to stop for a few groceries.  We were pulling into Sams when I thought I saw a dog...

I did see a dog, riding in a side car!  Of course, we had to stop and talk to the driver (the dog didn't say much).  He told us that the dog loved to ride in the sidecar.  It was certainly riding in style with a cushy pillow and toys in the side car and goggles on his eyes.  What a life!

We had the usual crew, Andy, Tony and Morgan, and a few guests.  Morgan's bonus brother, Tyler, came and Brent and Cassie, friends of the kids.  We also had four legged guests, Helga Jean, Andy's dog and Chubbs, Morgan's Corgi.

Of course, before too long, we headed for the river...

Helga loves the water, especially when Andy throws a tennis ball in for her to fetch...

Who taught Helgs to shake?!?

Tony and Tyler went for a jet ski ride...

Then they played in the water...

Then Morgan brought Chubbs down to play in the river with them...

And then she took Chubbs for a jet ski ride...

Chubbs has been riding the jet ski for quite a while.  Here's a photo of Morgan and Chubbs from two years ago...

Next thing you know, Andy is asking Helga if she wanted to go for a ride.  Did she?

You bet she did!

When they finally came back to the dock, she just sat there with Andy.  What a pair!

After everyone got dried off, they played a few games of Ladder Ball.

Tyler was the grand champ!  I think he beat everyone...

Mark cooked chicken breasts and pineapple on the grill.  Everyone was starved...

And once they were fed, they were ready to just chill...

As Tyler and Mark were sitting side by side, someone said they looked alike.  Then we realized they act alike too...

Summer Sundays at the River...as Martha Stewart would say, "It's a good thing!"

Take me out to the ball game and It's a BOY!

Last week we received an unexpected treat.  Mark's sister, Marsha, called to ask if we wanted 2 tickets for the Pittsburgh Pirates vs Boston Red Socks game that they couldn't use.

I'm not a baseball fan but I love PNC Park.  It's right on the Allegheny River with a great view of Pittsburgh's skyline.  Add to that the fact that it was also fireworks night and I was ready to go.

We're about 45 minutes from Pittsburgh and we wanted to get there early.   As we headed down the interstate, we decided to head over to Station Square and catch the Gateway Clipper Shuttle across the river.

I love seeing the different sights from the shuttle.  Pittsburgh is such an interesting city...

Sometimes you see some pretty strange characters as well...

We got to our seats with plenty of time to spare.  The seats were amazing.  So close, we spent quite a bit of time dodging foul balls!

 And again, some real characters...

There was a record setting crowd that night, and there were soooo many Red Sock Fans.  This little guy seated in front of us was a die hard Red Sock fan.  He knew all the players, understood the game and high fived his father when they scored.

The view of the city got prettier and prettier as it got darker and darker. 

Finally, we won, 6-4 and it was time for fireworks!

Marsha, thanks for the tickets.  We had such a good time and Mark loved eating his way around the stadium.  Thank you, Thank you Thank you.

Well, I guess Marsha couldn't have used the tickets anyway.  While we were watching the game, Krysti, Marsha's daughter went from this:

To this:

And Marsha and her husband Mike became grandparents.


Welcome to beautiful baby Gavin Miller Wright and congrats to Krysti and Brandon, the proud parents!

 36th Annual Butler Road Race!

Mark and  I were up and out early on Saturday morning, it was a big day in our family.  All four of my kids, my daughter-in-law, Tony's girlfriend and her brother were participating in the race.

The first thing we saw when we got there was Michael  pretending to warm up, Catherine pretending to stop traffic and Andy looking confused.

 

The first thing I did was hand one of my cameras to Mark...

I hate having my picture taken anytime but at 8:30 AM is out of the question!

Vicky was the last to get there...

 

Looks like Vicky and Michael are happy to see each other!

Don't you just love it when siblings are so supportive of each other?

 Of course, there are days when we think maybe Vicky's black belts are a little too tight...

This was an events of first in our family:  First race ever for Andy, Tony, Michael and Tyler.  The first time since high school track for Vicky.   Second race for Morgan, she raced last year.  Michael claims it was the first time he has run since junior high.  Catherine is a veteran.  She has run this race several times and placed in the top three of her class in 2009 and 2010.

The training methods were just as interesting.  Catherine actually trains.  Morgan has been training for a few weeks but this year was diagnosed with asthma and is having a hard time getting it under control. 

Andy and Tony took Andy's dog out on one training run (all three of them slept for 12 hours after that)

Everyone there had their own agenda:  Tony wanted to beat Andy.  Andy wanted to beat Morgan.  Michael wanted to walk the whole course with me.  Catherine came to run! 

I finally got the kids together for a pre-race team photo:

 And it was race time!

Even though they were racing in 5 different classes, they all started at the same time.  It seemed like an hour or more, but finally we saw...

Tony! 

We didn't know how he placed in his class...but in a minute or two we saw...

Yes!  Andy!

Catherine came along next, but she said, "NO PICTURES!"  That left us time to look down the street and see...

Michael!

Next came Vicky!

And then came Morgan and Tyler.  Morgan chose to stay with Tyler.  It was his first race.

We waited for the results to be posted.  That's when we found out that Tony came in first in his class...

 At 11 the night before the race, someone suggested that since we had so many family members racing, we should have a family trophy.  I scrambled though my stash of craft supplies and found nothing suitable, then I had a brain storm!  I went through the box of trophies Tony had saved since he was little and found one (almost suitable for the occasion).

I proudly presented Tony with the first annual M family trophy...

Formerly known as his bowling trophy (circa 1995).

Then they started the awards.  Catherine came in third in her division and got a medal:

Andy and Tony ran in the same division.  Andy came in second:

Tony came in first!

 Michael came in 8th in his division.  Not too shabby for a man who hasn't run since junior high.  Vicky came in 4th in hers.  They sure made us proud.

We lined the champs up for a photo:

And all the kids:

Morgan was there to congratulate her guy:

What a fun morning.  We all went out for brunch and had a blast.  The kids are already making plans for the next race...wonder who will take the trophy home?